P A T R I A R C H ‘ S V I S I O N

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P A T R I A R C H ‘ S V I S I O N

祖 師 眼 光

J O U R N A L O F T H E

I N T E R N A T I O N A L C H ‘ A N B U D D H I S M I N S T I T U T E

国 际 禅 佛 学 院

INAUGUAL EDITION - SEPTEMBER (AUTUMN) 2013

Vol: 1 – No: 1

Mission Statement:

The Patriarch’s Vision is the eJournal of the International Ch’an Buddhism Institute and serves as a sacred place for advanced thinking. It ostensibly exists as a forum to bring Chinese Ch’an, Japanese Zen, Korean Son, and Vietnamese Thien together in mutual respect and support. These and similar lineages preserve the Patriarch’s method of transmitting enlightenment mind to mind. Beyond this, the eJournal encourages the free examination of Buddhism in general, that is the Tathagata’s method of freeing the mind, as well as the exploration and assessment of other religious and secular trends outside of Buddhism, and the opportunities these different paths might offer Buddhism in the future.

Contributions are welcome from all backgrounds, and individuals are encouraged to submit articles about any subject that might be relevant to the eJournal’s aims and objectives. The name of the eJournal – ‘Patriarch’s Vision’ – seeks to regain and re-emphasise the Patriarch’s Ch’an of direct perception of the Mind Ground with no interceding levels of support or distraction. The arrow of insight travels straight to the target, but has no need to stop on the way. In the Chinese language ‘Patriarch’s Vision’ is written as ‘祖師眼光’ (Zu Shi Yan Guang) and conveys the following meaning:

Patriarch (祖師)

1) 祖 (Zu3) founding ancestor worshipped at the altar.

2) 師 (Shi1) a master that brings discipline.

Vision (眼光)

3) 眼 (Yan3) an eye that sees.

4) 光 (Guang1) light that enables seeing.

The eJournal intends to raise the level of consciousness through the stimulation, support, and encouragement of free and directed thought within society, and in so doing create the conditions for ordinary individuals to perfect their minds and realise the Patriarch’s Ch’an here and now. This task requires commitment and discipline if it is to be successful overtime. The human mind is potentially limitless and through the example of the Ch’an Patriarchs – many of whom were ordinary people (the 6th Patriarch was illiterate) – individuals have a model for psychological and spiritual growth.

Editorial

The Ch’an tradition, as its name suggests, advocates the use of the mind to discover the mind. This is a method of ‘direct’ perception whereby the dichotomy of subject-object is radically and permanently altered so that dualism is cut-off at its root. This is not the end of the mind, as it continues to exist and function whilst in the enlightened state, but it does signify a very important, transformational achievement, beyond which no authentic master will comment. For Ch’an, cutting-off the root of dualistic thinking is the primary goal. Beyond this lies the integration of the void with the form, a task that can be immediate or take many decades, with the aspirant being neither attached to the void nor hindered by phenomena. At the point of a major breakthrough in Ch’an training, all the sacrifice, pain and suffering that preceded it are wiped-out in an instant. This does not invalidate the struggle, but rather ennobles it. The ICBI has been established through an initiative originating in mainland China with the objective of bringing Ch’an and its many interpretations around the world into a broad alliance of common purpose which is historical and beyond politics.

The development of the inaugural addition of the Patriarch’s Vision has been an invigorating and humbling experience. There are twelve articles from ICBI Members situated as far afield as Argentina, Taiwan, Great Britain, USA, Hong Kong (China), Holland, and Peru. Nick Bishop explores the dynamics of the mind as it unfolds during practice. This honest appraisal is crucial for the achievement of genuine spiritual attainment. Bodhisattva Yo Ko expresses the simplicity and beauty of the Japanese Nicherin School and its Mantra Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, whilst Daniel Sharpenburg explores the Buddha as a symbol of countercultural iconoclast. Ch’an Master Shi Da Ji (this issue’s featured Ch’an teacher) presents his very interesting paper regarding Prajna-Samadhi as theoretically applied in Mahayana and used by Hui Neng the 6th Patriarch of Ch’an. Raymond Lam explores the link between Ch’an Buddhism and the Western analysis of religious texts from a post-modern perspective, and Robert Dittler – Abbot of the White Robed Monks of St Benedict – explores the natural and non-dual mind of a child. Ebele Zuidema shares his experience of travelling to Beijing to train with the Daoist Master Zhao Wang Ming, Upasika Yuk Yern questions the lack of female presence in the male dominated Ch’an lineages, and Professor Yanu Maitri-Shi explains the Maitriyana School of compassionate reconciliation.

This is an astonishing mixture of talent, intellect, and spiritual striving. Such a gathering of diverse experience, viewpoints, and understanding epitomises the exact nature of the Patriarch’s Vision and refreshes the spark of spiritual endeavour and intellectual genius that is the nature of ordinary human beings. Ch’an does not recognise any distinctions – high or low – as all manifests equally from the all-embracing Mind Ground. Everyone’s viewpoint matters on a universal scale and the ICBI advocates that its Members primarily communicate their great spiritual ideas through the pages of its eJournal the Patriarch’s Vision, which serves as an organ of focus and transmission that enables all to share in the collectively generated spiritual energy.

照顧話頭 – ‘Zhao gu hua-tou’!

Adrian Chan-Wyles (Shi Da Dao) September 2013

List of Contributors:

Adrian Chan-Wyles

Daniel Sharpenburg

Upasika Yuk Yern

Robert M Dittler

Nick Bishop

Yanu Maitri-Shi

Shi Da Ji

Yo Ko

Raymond Lam

Ebele Zuidema

Participation in the ICBI eJournal the Patriarch’s Vision is purely voluntary and motivated by a pure sense of spiritual altruism. The ICBI acknowledges and offers sincere thanks to those Members who have taken the time to put pen to paper, and produce unique works of spiritual importance. Your efforts will perpetuate the understanding of Ch’an, Zen, Son, and Thien far and wide, and bring genuine knowledge to future generations. The ability to express thoughts and feelings appropriately is very much in accordance with the traditional Chinese notion of what it means to be a spiritual scholar.

CONTENTS

1)Featured Ch’an Teacher: Master Da Ji (大寂法師) b. 1977 1-2

A Short Biography

(Translated By Adrian Chan-Wyles)

2)Who Was Nagarjuna?

3-12

By Adrian Chan-Wyles (Shi Da Dao)

3)Buddha the Iconoclast

13-15

By Daniel Scharpenburg

4)Ch’an Matriarchs - The Hidden Female Face in Buddhism 16-20

By Upasika Yuk Yern

5)Nonduality: The Nondual Mind of a Child

21-23

By Robert M. Dittler, Ph.D.

6)A Personal Insight into the “Journey”

24-25

By Nick Bishop

7)The Etymology of the Chinese Character ‘釋’ (Shi4)

26-30

By Adrian Chan-Wyles

8)Introduction to Maitriyana

31-34

By Professor Yanu Maitri-Shi - Academic Secretary of MBU & WBA

9)Research Regarding the Concept of Prajñā-Samādhi In the 35-43

Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

By Shi Da Ji (釋大寂) Ph.D - Graduate Institute of Asian Humanities Huafan University

10)Nichiren Buddhism: O'Daimoku – NamuMyohoRengekyo 44-45

By Yo Ko

11)Buddhist Theology: Ch’an and Ricoeurian Articulations of 46-54

No-Self and Morality

By Raymond Lam ICBI

Editor of Buddhistdoor International

12)All the Conditions Were Just Right: Visiting Daoist Master 55-57

Zhao Ming Wang Saturday 31-8-2013 - Beijing

By Ebele Zuidema

Copyright Notice

Featured Ch’an Teacher

Master Da Ji (大寂法師) b. 1977

A Short Biography

(Translated By Adrian Chan-Wyles ICBI)

(Master Da Ji is the Spiritual Director of the Great Calm Society for Chinese Culture (大寂靜學會) located in Taiwan. Master Da Ji has expressed a wish to engage with Western students interested in Ch’an meditation, as he is bilingual and proficient in both the Chinese and English languages. He may be contacted at: j2322025@gmail.com. This is a great blessing. Thank you Master Da Ji! ACW)

My situation is rather special. I am of the Lin Ji Sect (臨濟宗) of the Ch’an Buddhism tradition. The honourable teacher Master Hui Feng (慧峰法師), inherited the teachings of the Great Master Tan Xu (倓虛大師), who taught a Dharma that combines the teachings of both the Tian Tai (天臺) and Ch’an (禪) Schools. I am, therefore, of the Tiantai lineage.

I am publically known as Da Ji (大寂), but my correct Dharma–name is ‘Guo Xin’ (果心), and I follow the authentic Lin Ji Ch’an tradition as historically established in temples on Wutai (五台), Emei (峨嵋), and Putou (普陀) mountains. The origin and development of this school can be explained in 32 characters:

Original Mind is broad and continuous

(心源廣續)

This is the essence of the universe

(本覺昌隆)

Benevolent action creates enlightened karma(能仁聖果)

Always cultivate generosity

(常演寬宏)

This alone transmits the Dharma Seal and (惟傳法印)

Testifies the realisation of full enlightenment(證悟會融)

Firmly adhere to Vinaya discipline

(堅持戒定)

This is the lineage of our ancestral teaching(永紀祖宗)

Result: My generational name belongs to the 58th generation of the transmission of the Lin Ji Ch’an lineage.

Master Hui Feng was the disciple of the Venerable Old Dharma Master Tan Xu. In 1948, he came to Taiwan. In 1949, he established the Tranquillity Vihara (湛然精舍) in Tainan City. In 1952, Master Hui Feng created the Dharma Flower Vihara (法華精舍) situated in the Da Gang Shan area of Gaoxiong County. When Master Hui Feng passed away, his disciple Master Shui Yue (水月法師) effectively carried the bright teaching forward. This worthless monk Da Ji is the disciple of Master Shui Yue. In addition to teaching Tian Tai and Ch’an, I also teach the wisdom of early Indian Buddhism, as well emphasising the Mahayana teaching of Yogacara, and the cultivation of Prajnaparamitra – This is my Tian Tai inheritance.

Original Chinese Text of Master Da Ji’s Biography

我的情況比較特殊，按照法脈傳承是臨濟宗，但因我的師公是慧峰法師，傳承了倓虛大師的天臺禪法，所以我又暨有天臺宗的傳承。大寂是外號，內號是果心，按照臨濟正宗五台峨嵋普陀前寺演派源流訣三十二個字：「心源廣續 本覺昌隆 能仁聖果 常演寬宏 惟傳法印 證悟會融 堅持戒定 永紀祖宗」，「果」字輩屬於臨濟宗第58代傳承。倓虛老法師的門人──慧峰法師，于民國三十七年來台，三十八年創建湛然精舍于台南市，四十一年創建法華精舍於高雄縣大崗山。慧峰法師逝世後，由其弟子水月法師繼續弘揚天臺學，並戮力于因明學之推廣。敝僧大寂，即是水月法師的弟子，除了弘揚天臺宗禪法與禪宗禪法外，亦全面性弘揚自印度佛教之原始佛教以降，乃至大乘般若中觀、唯識瑜伽之正統禪修方法。這是我天臺宗的傳承。

Return to Contents

Who Was Nagarjuna?

By Adrian Chan-Wyles ICBI

1) The Significance of Naga in Indian Thought

Within the Brahmanic tradition of ancient India, the ‘naga’ represents a significant spiritual and temporal power focused and contained within a single body. The naga has the body of a snake or serpent, and is believed to be a god who has descended from Brahma’s daughter Kadru and her human husband, the sage Kasyapa. This parentage bestowed upon the off-spring an interesting and distinct physicality, together with immense wisdom. The Naga is not only wise, but is also a shape-shifting entity that can change its physical appearance at will, from any kind of snake into any human form, or even any number of snake-human hybrids. Naga are not only male, as the name suggests, but could also appear as the female gender, known in Sanskrit as ‘nagini’. Naga some times mixed with favoured human beings, even taking them as their partners and producing human children who would quite naturally become kings and queens in the world of mortals. The naga usually prefer to live in jewelled palaces in the air, the sea, or under the ground. This is because the naga served the Brahmanic god Indra who was in charge of rainfalls. When rain fell on the naga, the water drops invariably transformed into precious jewels. The naga were responsible for rainfall on earth, and had the ability to grant or withhold it, and this is why the naga are associated with water.

The naga has a direct and decisive influence upon Buddhism as it is implied in the story of the Buddha, that if a naga had not protected the meditating Buddha during heavy rainfall, he might not have attained enlightenment at all. The naga concerned is named Muchalinda and he enveloped the Buddha seven times with the coils of his snake-like body, and placed his hooded head above that of the Buddha – forming a shield and a shelter around him. This protection allowed the Buddha to continue unharmed and undisturbed until he realised full enlightenment. Within Brahmanic tradition, however, the naga are not always presented as being amenable to human needs. In the text entitled the Mahabharata, the naga king named Takshaka had a dispute with the human king Parikshit, because the latter had insulted a hermit. Takshaka descended to earth and killed Parikshit and destroyed his fortified kingdom.

Although depicted as having serpentine-like bodies, the naga, nevertheless, invariably retain human-like facial characteristics. This demonstrates that although they are divine, they can never fully lose or hide the human aspect of their origination. The naga as snake (often a Cobra), or serpent, is also used to denote a ‘dragon’. One of the titles of the Buddha is ‘Mahanaga’, or ‘Great Dragon’, this is a term also used to refer to other great sages who have escaped the cycle of rebirth. A dragon, of course, is not stuck in any one place (like a reincarnating human trapped within the cycle) but is free to travel in the heavens and all over the world without limit or hindrance. Within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, ‘nagaraja’, or ‘divine’ kings and queens protect springs, rivers, lakes, and seas. Some times it is said that Mahayana Buddhist sutras are hidden in caves under the water, guarded by the naga until such a time that humanity evolves the correct conscious level of understanding and can make use of them.

2) The Spiritual Presence of Nagarjuna

The spiritual persona of Nagarjuna within both Tibetan and Chinese sources, denotes what may be correctly described as an ‘archetypal’ figure that is so broad and all-inclusive, that his very name inspires hope and generates positive thoughts in the mind. This type of persona always appears to be individually unique, and yet as a distinct cultural expression of spiritualised depth psychology, it is recurrent throughout history, and observable within all cultures. Nagarjuna represents an important spiritual aspect of the mind of humanity that has been expressed through the rubric of Buddhism, but which implicitly retains the ability to simultaneously transcend the barriers of the philosophy of Buddhism itself. In this regard, the image of Nagarjuna is truly transcendent, and Nagarjuna as the expression of a profound and innate spiritual archetype, contains the amorphous characteristic of being all things to all people. Who exactly Nagarjuna was can be potentially argued by historians for ever, as the contextual evidence regarding his actual life circumstances is contradictory, paradoxical, and appears to conflate the biographical details of a number of Buddhist masters named Nagarjuna, who lived at different times. The immensity of the legendary material that surrounds the name of Nagarjuna is testimony to the importance of his place in human spirituality, and the ongoing need to create ‘heroes’ of a transcending nature. This creating process is not wrong as such, nor is it to be considered dishonest in anyway, but rather demonstrates that ‘reality’ as it is lived, can not be limited to either the ethereal or the material, and must be a combination of these two, and that reality is in fact a state of mind-body existence that has broken free of the limitations of thought that bind humanity to the cycle of suffering.

Nagarjuna is important for humanity because his presence in the world is purely transcendental. This is to say that his physical existence, and humanity’s memory of it, acts as a conduit for the establishment of immateriality whilst existing in a material world. In reality, although it is known that Nagarjuna existed as a man, this existence is superseded by a spiritual state that renders all physicality translucent and free of limited interpretation. It is significant that this image holds even in the diverse cultures of India, Tibet, and China. Even in the ‘logic’ obsessed West, those who have heard of Nagarjuna view him with the same kind of respect that is usually reserved for the great philosophers of ancient and classical Greece, and there is good reason for this. The Western mind in its current form seeks to dominate and control matter through the use of logical thinking. This is not new in the world, and Socrates (469–399 BCE) stated that it was old even in his lifetime. The early Buddhist Suttas written in Pali demonstrate a remarkable ‘logic’ very similar to that found in Greek philosophical texts. The difference between Western logic as it is used today, and the earlier logic of ancient Greece and India, is that the latter examples strive to transcend matter by freeing the mind from attachment to it, whilst the former example is only striving to dominate and manipulate matter by staying one step ahead of natural processes and phenomena. By focusing on Nagarjuna’s logic (whilst ignoring its conclusions), Western thinkers can elevate him to an equal status within European thought. Even this limited model of appreciation is a form of transcendence, as the Western mind has had to carefully pick its way through Nagarjuna’s work, abandoning along the way many erroneous prejudices and preconceptions, to arrive at a psychological state that accommodates the previously ‘unknown’ and dangerously ‘foreign’. Even within the materially obsessed West, Nagarjuna’s influence is being felt, particularly if it is acknowledged and understood that spiritual influence is often a matter of degree over-time, rather than the product of a single and dramatic effect. Whereas Socrates was a near contemporary of the Buddha, the Nagarjuna that is the primary subject of this study, was a near contemporary of the Egyptian born Greek philosopher named Plotinus (205-270CE).

Although Indian by birth, Nagarjuna’s philosophical presence and spiritual power is evident throughout the early formative years of the development of Chinese Buddhism. Not only is his influence seen within the Ch’an School, but also within the teachings of the Pure Land School, where it is accepted that he wrote important commentaries – Chares Luk states:

‘According to records, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva founded the Pure Land School. In his treatise: ‘The Awakening of Faith’, Asvaghosa, the twelfth Patriarch of the Ch’an Sect, urged Buddhists to strive for rebirth in the Pure Land. In their writings, Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu, respectively the fourteenth and twenty-first Patriarchs of the Ch’an sect, also gave the same advice to those who are unable to awaken to the mind Dharma.’

Nagarjuna’s philosophy, although often admired for its pristine internal logic was not limited to a mere dry intellectualism, and it is clear that his approach toward spiritual development was all-encompassing. Indeed, this all-embracing perspective has been the primary reason why Nagarjuna is still so well known in the world today. His teaching allows disparate humanity to ‘see’ what it needs within it, and to take freely from that broad body of wisdom to facilitate spiritual growth. Nagarjuna uses his intellect in such a manner that allows the untying of delusional knots in the mind. Nagarjuna’s logic is not an end in itself, but rather a means to achieving greater spiritual freedom. Nagarjuna’s intellectualism literally (and necessarily) dissolves all psychological states of confusion and the suffering these states contain. This kind of spiritually charged ordering of thought allows the intellect to function as an expression of wisdom (prajna) which is the product of the realisation (and penetration) of the deepest psycho-spiritual levels of the mind. As this position denotes a radically transformed mind, the scope for its expression is potentially limitless, and this explains why Nagarjuna’s work is so diverse and multifaceted. Logic is useful and can assist the spiritual aspirant only to a finite degree before it has to be abandoned; but Nagarjuna also acknowledges that ‘direct seeing’ into the fabric of the mind is as equally important in the realisation of enlightenment, if enlightenment is defined as fully comprehending the internal landscape of the mind. Of course, this comprehension is neither passive nor weak, but dynamic and awe-inspiring as the full capacity of human psychological and physical strength is understood to be eternally integrated and inherently free from contradiction, attachment, and hindrance. Nagarjuna’s work emphasises time and again the ‘empty’ nature of reality, and it is this single realisation that thoroughly transforms the mind and puts an end to greed, hatred, and delusion. Nagarjuna, therefore, uses logic only as an expedient to clear the mind in preparation for the direct perception of its clear and empty essence. The central philosophical position renders the spiritual thought of Nagarjuna open to a flexible interpretation that can be applied to a wide spectrum of spiritual expression.

Keith Dowman’s research suggests that there have been at least four major Buddhist thinkers called ‘Nagarjuna’, together with a number of lesser well-known followers of the Dharma sharing the same name. The four principle adepts named ‘Nagarjuna’, observable in the record of spiritual biographies extant in China and Tibet are:

1) Arya Nagarjuna – born in South India – and the founder of Madhyamika philosophy (c. 2nd century CE).

2) Mahasiddhi Nagarjuna - who studied at Nalanda University and was the disciple of Mahasiddhi Saraha. He was an adept of the Guhyasamaya-tantra and taught in the latter 8th and early 9th centuries CE.

3) Rasayana Mahasiddhi Nagarjuna – or Nagarjuna the ‘alchemist’ and one of the founders of the Nath lineage, who is recorded as existing in the 10th century CE by the Muslim traveller journalist Al-buruni.

4) Mahasiddhi Nagarjuna – also known as ‘Kancannara’ since he was born in Kanca.

Although these biographies span around 800 years, it is important to remember that in India and Tibet (as well as China), it is common to view great adepts as being reborn continuously over long periods of time, and thus fulfilling the Bodhisattva Vow of working toward the salvation of all other beings before their entry into final nirvana. The long periods of time covering the manifestation of the many Nagarjuna’s is not necessarily viewed as illogical, but is rather the manifestation of the highest Buddha-nature as it continuously takes rebirth in the human world, motivated by compassion and wisdom. This explains why the Tibetan sources give the lifespan of Nagarjuna as being 500 years long from 50 – 550 CE. This dating allows the early Nagarjuna (2nd century), to live into the era of the establishment of Nalanda University founded in 4th century CE, a very important place in the biography of the later spiritual adepts named Mahasiddhi Nagarjuna. The story of the early Arya Nagarjuna was introduced into China through the translation work of Kumarajiva (344-413). It is this Nagarjuna who is recognised as the 14th Indian Patriarch of Ch’an Buddhism. My English translation of Kumarajiva’s Chinese language biography of Arya Nagarjuna follows. It is interesting to note that in this version of the Nagarjuna story there is no mention of Nalanda University or indeed the fact that Nagarjuna was the 14th Ch’an Patriarch, although it does mention him being the ‘13th Patriarch’ without offering further explanation:

3) Kumarajiva’s Biography of Nagarjuna

The Biography of Nagarjuna Bodhisattva

By the

Translator of the Chinese Tripitaka – Kumarajiva

He was known as Nagarjuna Bodhisattva. He was a Brahmin from South India. When he was very young, he was known to be clever. His memory was excellent and he could recite Vedic texts of forty thousand gathas after hearing them only once – with each gatha containing 32 characters. When he was in his twenties, Nagarjuna was renowned all over the country for his Brahmanic learning in the subjects of Astronomy, Geography, (including map making), and the practice of the art of secret prophecy, as well as being expert in various other subjects not recorded. Nagarjuna had three friends, each of which had a good academic reputation at the time, and with whom he used to regularly meet to discuss matters.

Together they decided that they were tired of studying the Brahmanic deities, and learning about righteous and correct behaviour in the world. Instead of disciplining themselves through spiritual study, they decided instead to look for amusement in the world of sensuous stimulation, and to live a life of wanton depravity. Nagarjuna and his friends wanted to infiltrate the king’s palace, but they were afraid that the spiritual power of the Brahmin priests would catch them out. Instead they all agreed on a plan to acquire the power of invisibility, and each went in search of knowledge of the art. Eventually they found a master of alchemy who thought privately to himself: “These four Brahmins have a good reputation, whilst I am insignificant amongst the people. If I do not teach the art of invisibility to them it will be humiliating for me. I do not understand why Brahmins of their education want to learn this vulgar method. If I grant this ability and it is misused, I can never return here.” With these doubts in mind, the alchemy master advised that the four Brahmins could access the art of invisibility through the use of a certain medicine, and that they could only attain this medicine from the alchemy master himself. He said that when they need more medicine, he – as a master of alchemy – would appear at the right time. He then gave each of the four Brahmins a single green pill each. They were instructed to go to a quiet place and grind up the pill and mix it with water, and then to rub the mixture onto their eyelids to make them become invisible to all onlookers. Nagarjuna, when he grinded the pill, made a note of the distinctive smell that was emitted from it, so that he could recognise it again in the future, and was very careful to measure out the required amount and not to lose any of the precious substance. The alchemist explained that the medicine lasted for only 70 minutes each time it was used. The alchemist asked: “For what reason do you wish to use this medicine?” Nagarjuna answered: “I am curious as I do not know how to make this drug.” Upon hearing this, the alchemist gave a sigh, and accepted the situation. Even if the four Brahmin could tell something about the ingredients, it was very unlikely that they could find all of them and re-create the invisibility drug for themselves. With this the alchemist decided to proceed with showing the four Brahmins the basic technique of the art of invisibility.

Once the art of invisibility was learnt, the four Brahmin visited the royal palace frequently. During these visits they humiliated the palace women. In time, there were over a hundred pregnancies in the palace. The king, who was pure of heart, exempted the women from blame, but was furious over the invasion of his palace and the violation of his harem. It was decided that to blame the women themselves would be inauspicious. Instead the king summoned various wise ministers to discuss this matter. They said that there is a very old saying that states that everything can have more than one possible origin. In this instance it could be the work of ghosts and spirits, or of alchemy. They suggested that a very fine soil be placed around the various doorways and gates so any covert walking throughout the palace could be seen by the guards. If it was ghosts and spirits no foot-prints would be left in the fine soil, but if it was humans entering the palace through the use of alchemy (i.e. invisible), then the foot-prints could be seen by their mark in the fine soil. When the palace was full of hundreds of people surrounding the king, suddenly four sets of foot-prints became visible. All the doors were firmly closed to prevent escape, and a number of armed guests killed three of the four invisible intruders by cutting them to pieces. Nagarjuna survived only by holding his breath and hiding behind the king – as no blades were allowed to be near the king’s person. Nagarjuna suddenly understood that it was better to search for enlightenment (as a Buddhist monk), than to continue to create bad karma for the public through the negative use of his mind and body. He was disgusted with his behaviour and took a vow to cultivate the Dharma at a Buddhist stupa in the remote mountains. This commitment saved him from punishment for the crimes committed whilst invisible. For 90 days he studied the Tripitaka until he understood it thoroughly. He then searched for more sutras but could not find them. He travelled into the snowy mountains and found a pagoda which had an old monk living inside – this old monk possessed the Mahayana Sutras. Nagarjuna studied these sutras and comprehended their deep meaning, but at that time he could not gain a full understanding of the wisdom they contained. Therefore, Nagarjuna went on a journey through many countries seeking instruction in these teachings, but could not find anyone, either heretic or Buddhist disciple, who could understand them. Those he encountered had insufficient knowledge of the Buddha’s teaching and their understanding was incomplete. They could not understand the deep meaning of enlightenment as conveyed by the Mahayana Sutras.

At this time Nagarjuna mistakenly believed (in his arrogance) that as he could easily defeat others in debate, that he had discovered a new teaching of the Buddha. He invented a new school premised upon non-rejection and equanimity in all circumstances, with its own distinct robes and vows, etc. The Great Dragon Bodhisattva – or ‘Nagaraja’ – the King of the Dragons saw what Nagarjuna was doing and thought it to be both unfortunate and pitiful. Using his spiritual power he picked up Nagarjuna and conveyed him to his palace situated beneath the sea, and showed him seven piles of precious objects. This included many important Mahayana Sutras (of varying length) which had been entrusted to the naga for safe-keeping. Nagarjuna studied and mastered these teachings in 90 days. However, just when he thought that he had intellectually understood all there was to learn, another inexhaustible pile of teachings manifested. At this point Nagarjuna understood that intellectual study can only get an aspirant so far in their spiritual development, and that in reality the essence of the Buddha’s teaching’s must be directly perceived by the mind, rather than merely understood in a limited way by the intellect. With this insight Nagarjuna travelled to Southern India taking the Mahayana teachings (and a red flag) with him, which he used to defeat all heretics for seven years to impress a local king. He told the king that a battle was happening in the divine sky between the Asuras and the Devas; this was proven by body parts which fell from the sky, the king was convinced of Nagarjuna’s insight and the Mahayana teachings became prominent in the kingdom to such an extent that even 10,000 Brahmins converted to its practice and shaved off their top-knots. Nagarjuna composed authoritative commentaries (of varying length) to the Mahayana Sutras, and developed his Madhyamika philosophy and texts. Such was Nagarjuna’s spiritual power that the Mahayana teachings spread all over Southern India.

One day, during a debate with a Brahmin, the Brahmin created an illusionary pond that had a water-lily (floating at its centre) consisting of a thousand petals. Seeing this use of magic, Nagarjuna created an elephant which over-turned the pond. A master of the Hinayana teachings took exception to the mission of Nagarjuna, and expressed a desire to have him killed. Hearing this Nagarjuna shut himself into his room and disappeared from the world. His disciples eventually broke open the door but only a cicada flew out. For a hundred years temples were built in his name, and people began to worship Nagarjuna as they did the Buddha throughout India. Nagarjuna’s mother gave birth to him under an Arjuna tree, and as a dragon, or ‘naga’ had shown him the ‘true path’ (or ‘Dao’), he was named ‘Nagarjuna’, or ‘Dragon Tree’. (In the Tibetan biography of Nagarjuna, his name is given as ‘Entrusted with the Dharma (by a Dragon)’. He was also known as the 13th Patriarch. Due to his mastery of alchemy, he ate food that guaranteed immortality, and he lived to over two hundred years. In that time he supported and upheld the Dharma and the number of people that he saved can not be counted.) End of translation.

4) Nagarjuna as Ch’an Patriarch

The Ch’an lineage is recorded in the Chinese text entitled ‘The Record of the Transmission of the Lamp’ (景德傳燈錄 – Jing De Chuan Deng Lu), which is believed to have been compiled in the early years of the 11th century CE, during the Song Dynasty. It preserves and conveys the early history of the Ch’an School in 30 volumes, and serves as an important source document. Within it is found the details of the 28 Indian Patriarchs, their names and transmission gathas, followed by the names and transmission gathas of 6 Chinese Patriarchs culminating in the famous Hui Neng. The Indian Buddhist monk who travelled from India to China, and whose physical presence in the world enabled Indian Dhyana Buddhism to spread to China as ‘Ch’an’, is of course Bodhidharma. He was the 28th Indian Patriarch, and was also considered to be the 1st Chinese Patriarch. Prior to the existence of either Bodhidharma or Hui Neng, however, there lived the famous Nagarjuna. He is considered to be, within the Ch’an tradition, the 14th Indian Patriarch. It is recorded that Nagarjuna’s teacher was named Kapimala, and that Nagarjuna transmitted the Ch’an Dharma to his student named Kanadeva. Each of these masters skilfully probed the minds of their students before transmitting the Ch’an-Dharma, seeking out weaknesses and strengths, and ascertaining who had, and who had not, realised enlightenment. The Record of the Transmission of the Lamp states that:

The Thirteenth Indian Patriarch Kapimala

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Fourteenth Patriarch Nagarjuna:

The Dharma which conceals not nor reveals

Expounds the region of reality.

To realise the Dharma

Is neither ignorant nor wise.

The Fourteenth Indian Patriarch Nagarjuna

Gatha chanted when transmitting the Dharma to the Fifteenth Patriarch Kanadeva:

To explain the Dharma of concealing and revealing

The principle of liberation is now taught.

No mind is realised according to this Dharma

And there is no (cause for) anger or for joy.

Although the Transmission of the Lamp, as a distinct text, dates to the early 11th century, the exact dates for Nagarjuna’s life are not known despite his fame as the founder of the Mahayana Madhyamika School of Buddhism, and his commentary upon the Maha Prajna Paramita Sutra, and other writings attributed to him. He is believed to have lived either around 60 – 150 CE, or sometime between 2nd and 3rd centuries CE; approximately 600 to 700 years after the parinirvana of the Buddha. The dating for Nagarjuna’s life stems from the fact that his biography links him with Satavaharta monarch who is believed to be King Gautamiputra Satakarni. It is stated that this king respected Nagarjuna to such an extent that he had a monastery built for him to live in during his later years, situated in Sriparvata.

5) Etymology of the Name ‘Nagarjuna’

The term ‘Nagarjuna’ is Sanskrit in origin and refers to a male name comprising of two distinct words. The first word is ‘naga’, and means a dragon-like creature, whilst the second word ‘arjuna’ refers to a type of tree. The Chinese translation of the name ‘Nagarjuna’ is written as ‘龍樹’ (long2 shu4), with ‘龍’ representing a serpent wearing a crown, and ‘樹’ suggesting either a tree, or the cultivation of a tree. Both these ideograms denote ancient symbols in China and are evident on the oracle bones associated with the Shang Dynasty – circa 1300 – 1100 BCE. The name ‘Nagarjuna’ appears to translate as ‘Dragon Tree’, but the ideogram ‘龍’ (long2) can also be read as ‘emporer’, ‘imperial’, and ‘large reptile’, whilst the ideogram ‘樹’ (shu4) carries the alternative meanings of ‘to plant’, ‘to cultivate’, ‘to grow’, ‘to erect’, ‘to establish’, and ‘door screen’, etc. The biography of Nagarjuna (in general Chinese sources) states the following explanation for the origin of this name:

傳說其父姓龍，母生他於樹下，故名龍樹。

‘According to tradition, it is recorded that his father’s surname was ‘Long’ (龍), and that his mother gave birth to him under a tree, hence the name Nagarjuna.’

This is an interesting deviation from Kumarajiva’s position that states (in his Chinese language biography) that Nagarjuna got his name because he was helped by a naga, and that this is in agreement with Tibetan sources which say that Nagarjuna got his name from the fact that he was converted to the true interpretation of the Mahayana Dharma by a naga, or dragon. The many differing versions of the life story of an individual, or individuals called ‘Nagarjuna’ have become integrated and mixed to create a single, extraordinary spiritual being. These individuals were already considered spiritually advanced, each in their own right, before their stories became confused with one another. However, the Nagarjuna as conveyed by Kumarajiva appears to be the first in a long line of spiritual practitioners using the same name, and it is reasonable to assume that it is this Nagarjuna who is today recorded as the 14th Ch’an Patriarch. Kumarajiva states (for no clear or apparent reason) that Nagarjuna was the ‘13th Patriarch’. Of what school, we are not informed. Perhaps in the early formation of the Ch’an School of Buddhism the Patriarchal lineage as it is known today, was not yet established or set in stone, but varied from lineage to lineage, with no agreement as to ‘who’ was included in it, or ‘where’ in the order they were placed. Whatever the case, it is clear that regardless of the ingenuity of Nagarjuna’s spiritual insight, his numerous biographies state that the ability to perform miraculous acts in ancient India was considered to be a mark of advanced spirituality. This is linked to the idea that through the practice of physical austerity (i.e. various yogic methods and techniques), the human mind and body can gain certain paranormal abilities or powers (siddhi) that can be used in the world for good or bad reasons, depending upon the spiritual development of the aspirant. Nagarjuna’s biography is essentially that of a spiritual archetype. So powerful was this man’s spiritual presence in the world that even in the 7th century CE, the Chinese monk-explorer named I-Tsing, mentions him whilst visiting India:

‘Many people were cured from a disease in the canine teeth or tooth-ache after using tooth woods regularly. They not only rinsed their mouth properly but also washed their nostrils with water, which, according to I-Tsing, was the proper way of keeping health in good form and “of securing a long life adopted by Bodhisattva Nagarjuna.”’

These personal hygiene practices are of yogic (non-Buddhist) origin, and probably serve as an indicator of Nagarjuna’s Brahmanic origin. The various ‘lives’ of Nagarjuna can be carefully disentwined, with order and clarity brought to bear. This process need not be destructive, or used as a means to prove Nagarjuna’s ‘non-existence’, but can be used to further spiritual development, as if in the jumble of biographical detail, Nagarjuna still teaches through a secret path that is hidden behind a plethora of compelling and often contradictory facts. The dragon is an important symbol for both ancient India and ancient China – as it has a tremendous spiritual power associated with it, a power that imbues Nagarjuna’s biography from beginning to end.

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Buddha the Iconoclast

By Daniel Scharpenburg ICBI

We tend to look at the Buddha as a serene and calm figure. Generally we see statues and pictures of him with a beatific look on his face. Maybe his eyes are half open. Maybe he's smiling. That is good. Clearly we would all like to be calm and serene in spite of life's troubles. But I propose a different way of looking at the Buddha. I look at the Buddha as a countercultural icon. Like many other historical figures, he saw the way things were in his day and decided that we could do better. He was a revolutionary who proposed new ideas that changed the world because he saw that the world needed to change.

The Buddha was born in a time and place in which society and culture were dominated by a specific religious dogma. This dominant religion was oppressive to minorities and women and hostile toward science. It is a good thing we don’t have anything like that going on today. That would be hard to deal with.

The Buddha was a spiritual teacher and founder of a great religion, there is no doubt about that. But, he was also a revolutionary figure. He saw a religion and culture that were harmful and he stood up to them. He didn’t have to do that. The easy answer would have been to gain spiritual insights and walk away from society. Many others had done so before him and at the time of his enlightenment, he did consider doing that. He decided to teach others and spread his insight to help the world, instead of keeping it to himself.

Siddhartha Gautama grew up in a very comfortable environment, far more comfortable than most of us can imagine. His father was a wealthy noble. Siddhartha was constantly surrounded by the best food, music, and beautiful women. He had a life of luxury that few people have. He should have been happy, but he was not. Like many in the hippie movement of the 1960s, he wanted to leave his comfortable life behind to look for something more, something greater and more open. He was not unlike the many counter-cultural revolutionaries who were inspired by Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’, to leave behind their comfortable suburban lives in order to travel and see what else the world had to offer. Although his lifestyle was wonderful, he felt like a prisoner. He wasn’t content with what society taught him that he was supposed to be. He didn’t want to grow up to be a ruler like his father. He wanted to find his own way in life. As soon as he became aware of the great amount of suffering in the world, he became determined to leave his father’s home and figure out something to do about it.

It should be noted that India in the Buddha’s time was not a place with a lot of freedom. They had a rigid caste system that essentially defined your life from birth. The caste system was religiously inspired. The teachings of the Vedic religion, which would eventually evolve into Hinduism, defined the caste system. This religion was dominant to such an extent that Siddhartha didn’t know how to go forward with his plan while living in the framework of normal society. He was unhappy with the path his life seemed destined to take, and so he stepped off the path. He simply walked away from society, challenging the prevalent norm that it was his duty to carry on his father’s legacy.

There was a counterculture at the time. There were spiritual seekers who wanted to find religious truths in the world. They weren’t content with the answers the Vedic religion was providing, so they went off on their own. They felt that they had no choice but to drop out of society. Siddhartha was not the first to look around and say, “There must be more to life than this,” but some of his ideas would galvanize the counterculture and change the world forever. In Siddhartha’s time, many people were beginning to become disillusioned by the Vedic religion. It’s just that most of them were unwilling to challenge the boundaries.

He tried to learn from different spiritual teachers for six years. He realized that no one had the answers he was looking for. The real spiritual revolution began when he realized that the truth was within him… within all of us.

So, with a new sense of determination, Siddhartha decided to look within himself for the truth. This was also a revolutionary idea. Even today, it still is. In most belief structures people tend to think that the ultimate reality, the truth, is somewhere outside of themselves. Many people tend to think that the truth is to be found by following some outside entity that they call God or by reading some scripture or listening to clergy. Siddhartha decided that the truth was within. So, using some meditation techniques that he had learned, he tried to look within himself for the answer. He sat underneath a big tree and resolved to sit there in quiet meditation until he had a great spiritual insight into the truth.

So, Siddhartha became enlightened. He took the title ‘Buddha’ which means the Enlightened One. He realized ultimate truths about the human condition. His first instinct was to simply live in seclusion for the rest of his life. He didn’t think that the truths that he had discovered were things that people would want to hear. We live our lives mired in delusion and sometimes we are afraid of the truth. That’s just part of how we live as human beings. He thought that he couldn’t teach what he had learned to anyone. Ultimately he decided that it was too important. Even though he wasn’t sure that anyone would listen and understand, he had an obligation to try to spread his teachings, which we call the Dharma. It was his compassion that motivated him. He knew it was likely to be difficult, but there were so many suffering people in the world and he felt a sense of duty to try and help them.

The Buddha had discovered, in his calm state of insightful meditation, the truth about our lives. We are all interconnected. We tend to think of ourselves as individuals, separate from everything and everyone around us. That is simply not the case. We are all one. And deep down we all know this. He called our true nature our Buddha Nature and he said that we all have it within us. Our problem is that we have to get through our delusions to become aware of our true selves. And the most important thing is this: anyone can do it. Enlightenment isn’t the province of an elite few. We can all become enlightened, in fact we are already. Not only that, but he said something truly shocking. Even women can become enlightened. Women have Buddha Nature just like men. That might be the most unique thing about Buddhism among the ancient religions.

These ideas were revolutionary. As I mentioned, this was a rigidly stratified society. Hereditary priests called Brahmins were believed to have a monopoly on spiritual truth. Then, here comes this iconoclast saying that we can all become enlightened. A few old traditionalist men wanted things to stay the way they were, but this young charismatic spiritual teacher came and smashed all of that. The Brahmins believed in worshiping fire and paying homage to the Gods. The Buddha questioned both of these ideas. He said, “I don’t teach about Gods. I teach about suffering and the way out of suffering.” He made the argument that our purpose isn’t to worry about why we’re here or what made us. Our purpose is to figure out the best way to live, that a mindful life is important. Reality is what matters. How you keep your mind from moment to moment is enlightenment. The Buddha made the claim that worshiping things outside of yourself is usually harmful. He said, “The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.” What we are looking for is within us. That is the truth.

The Buddha was a revolutionary figure who challenged the traditional spirituality of his day. He challenged adherence to dogma and the authority of religious leaders. He wanted us to know that we could be our own religious leaders. He said, “Believe nothing unless it agrees with your own understanding and common sense.” In a way he was a populist religious teacher, saying that we should be in charge of our own religious destiny instead of being followers. The Buddha taught that we should always think for ourselves and always question everything. This is an important lesson and it really separates him from other spiritual teachers.

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Ch’an Matriarchs

The Hidden Female Face in Buddhism

By Upasika Yuk Yern ICBI

It is remarkable to consider that women have figured prominently in both Indian and Chinese Buddhist history, and yet remain marginalised and hidden, or worse still, completely omitted from the historical record. Why is this? Answers vary in complexity, but the important aspect to remember, is that the majority of cultures and societies are male led, and therefore due to this male domination, history and its narratives are male-centred. Even when women make a stand, or appear to show ‘intelligence’, it is recorded in history as being unusual or worse still, omitted altogether. It is a matter of the male gender holding power through interpretation, and excluding any threat to that power from the ‘official’ narrative. It must be understood from the start that although the historical Buddha was undoubtedly a man, his Enlightenment transcended gender, and his words and teachings were for men and women, as well as monks and lay people. It is only after the Buddha’s passing that stories and teachings appear which claim that women cannot achieve enlightenment.

When searching through history, there are some prominent women figures, for example, Kuan Yin (in China) appears as a woman, is this because Kuan Yin is the compassionate aspect of the Buddha, and therefore the female personification of this aspect is more ‘natural’. Whereas in India the spiritual equivalent of Kuan Yin is a man. When the male Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara first entered China, his image underwent what might be viewed today as a trans-gender experience, possibly through influence of Daoist myths and legends. He slowly became associated with the Princess Miao Shan and eventually morphed into a female icon. The reason for this might be because the Lotus Sutra states that Avalokitesvara can manifest in any form, but it is curious why such a transformation like this should take place in a country like China with its strong patriarchal bias.

In early Indian Buddhism there is every indication that men and women, monk and nun, monastic and laity, were treated equally. There are ample examples of men and women, (monastic and lay), attaining enlightenment without discrimination. Research indicates that where the Buddha appears to be taking an anti-woman stance, these parts of the sutras are later revisions, alterations, and insertions, and can not be taken as the genuine words of the Buddha himself. The study of these texts reveals that such misogynistic statements are discontinuous with the earliest layers of recorded Buddhist thought, and do not match in grammar or structure, to the original text. Why were such insertions made? It can only be speculated that as time passed following the Buddha’s death, the revolutionary influence of his philosophy lost some of its strength, and that male dominated conservative trends of thought re-asserted themselves to the point of actually inspiring the alteration of Buddhist texts – an act that is considered to attract the most hellish of karmic retributions.

The official Ch’an Patriarchship as recorded in India and China does not mention a single female name, and yet enlightened women have appeared in India and China. Having revealed the patriarchal bias within Buddhism, and firmly rejected it as not being representative of the Buddha’s wisdom, we can move on to presenting examples of powerful women within Indian and Chinese spirituality. The Therigatha – or ‘Spiritual Poems of the Elder Women’, is a collection of songs that date back to the time of the Buddha himself, and which were originally remembered and passed on through word of mouth before being written down in Pali. This collection clearly shows the important and equal place of women in early Buddhism. A selection of these poems reveals the vibrant intellect of these Indian women, and the Ch’an-like nature of their direct understanding:

Vaddhesi’s Poem

It was twenty-five years since I left home,

And I haven’t had a moment’s peace.

Uneasy in heart, steeped in longing for pleasure,

I held out my arms and cried out as I entered the monastery.

I went up to a nun I thought I could trust,

She taught me the Dharma, the elements of body and mind,

The nature of perception, earth, water, fire, and wind.

I heard her words and sat down beside her.

Now I have entered the six realms of sacred knowledge:

I know I have lived before; the eye of heaven is pure,

And I know the minds of others.

I have great magic powers and have annihilated all the obsessions of the mind.

The Buddha’s teaching has been done.

Uttama’s Poem

The Buddha taught Seven Factors to Enlightenment.

They are ways to find peace and I have developed them all.

I have found what is vast and empty, the unborn.

It is what I’ve longed for. I am a true daughter of the Buddha,

Always finding joy and peace.

I have ended the hunger of gods and humans,

And I will not wander from birth to birth.

I have no thought of becoming.

Dantika’s Poem

As I left my daytime resting place on Vulture Peak,

I saw an elephant come up the riverbank after its birth.

A man took a hook and said to the elephant, “Give me your foot.”

The elephant stretched out its foot; the man mounted.

Seeing what was wild before gone tame under human hands,

I went into the forest and concentrated my mind.

In China, the female Daoist Immortal Sun Bu Er lived during the Song Dynasty. She was from Shandong in North China, married and had a number of children. She did not start to cultivate the Dao until she had just turned 51. Although technically a Daoist, it is obvious from the poetry she left behind that by this time Daoism and Ch’an Buddhism had influenced one another to a very remarkable degree. Sun Pu Er left home and lived in the mountains for over a decade perfecting her mind and body before realising enlightenment. She was a master of alchemy and wrote a number of advanced instructional texts. Her enlightened poetry also reveals the fact that she thought that men and women were equal:

Gathering the Mind

(The same for men and women)

Before our body existed,

One energy was already there.

Like jade, more lustrous as it’s polished.

Like gold, brighter as it’s refined.

Sweep clear the ocean of birth and death,

Stay firm by the door of total mastery.

A particle at the point of open awareness,

The gentle firing is warm.

Nurturing the Energy

(The same for men and women)

The basis starts out uncontrived:

Unexpectedly it falls into the temporal.

As soon as a cry issues from the mouth,

The tongue is in control.

What’s more, it’s worn out by sense impacts,

And entangled by illness.

When the child is well nourished, it can benefit the mother,

Talk no more of not turning around.

The Womb Breath

(The same for men and women)

If you want the elixir to form quickly,

First get rid of illusory states.

Attentively guard the spiritual medicine;

With every breath return to the beginning of the creative.

The energy returns, coursing through the three islands;

The spirit, forgetting, unites with the ultimate.

Coming this way and going this way,

No place is not truly so.

Within Ch’an literature there is one example of enlightened Chinese women – but their story is presented around that of a man. This was probably considered very daring at the time, but as a story, it does show that men and women are spiritually, if not socially equal. The true-nature has no gender, but appears to function in the world through male and female bodies. Social and cultural development is in general a product of deluded thinking, and does not represent the enlightened nature. Although the Ch’an masters talk of adjusting to outer circumstance, it is also true to say that when the true-nature manifests through an enlightened individual, the world is also transformed. In other words the world has to adjust to enlightenment. Layman Pang Yun had the following conversation:

‘One day, while chanting with his wife on the doctrine of the unborn, the Upasaka said: “Difficult! Difficult! Difficult! (It is like unpacking and) distributing ten loads of sesame seeds on the top of a tree.”

His wife interjected: “Easy! Easy! Easy! A hundred blades of grass are the masters’ indication.”

Hearing their dialogue, their daughter Ling Chao said laughingly: “Oh, you two old people! How can you talk like that? The Upasika said to his daughter: “What, then, would you say?” She replied: “It is not difficult! And it is not easy! When hungry one eats and when tired one sleeps.”’

We never learn the name of Pang Yun’s enlightened wife, but we are told his daughter’s name Ling Chao. Such was the depth of her enlightenment that she corrected both her parents in their expressions of the true-nature. And yet neither woman is considered historically relevant beyond this recorded point in their lives. The male dominance in this Ch’an story is confirmed by the concluding paragraph to this conversation:

‘Pang Yun clapped his hands, laughed and said: “My son will not get a wife; my daughter will not have a husband. We will all remain together to speak the language of the un-born.” Since then, his dialectic powers became eloquent and forcible and he was admired everywhere.’

What is surprising is that Pang Yun was actually bettered by both his wife and daughter, and yet it is his example that the compilers of the Ch’an historical documents choose to record and emphasis. Sometimes the conventions of religious and spiritual systems are all too often blindly followed by adherents to the extent that the highest wisdom of those traditions is lost in rhetoric. The Buddha did not discriminate between men and women, but unenlightened male followers of his Dharma definitely did, despite the obvious contradiction to his teachings this implied. As societies have been historically dominated by the male psyche, this philosophical distortion of the Buddha’s teachings has been easily accommodated – as if discrimination against women was the ‘hidden’ truth within the Dharma. Today, with the movement away from sexism and misogyny, women are in a position to see through the lies of convention and free them from the suffering of associated living in a male dominated world. The search for freedom should not stop with the fulfilment of the Feminist agenda, but should push on into the true-nature of the mind so that all dualisms and contradictions are fully resolved. In this process men play a vital part that should not be forgotten as they too must free themselves from the psychological damage that a one-sided mindset installs in an individual. Men are not the enemy – but delusion in the mind. To put things right in the world, things must be put right in the mind.

Reference:

Ch’an and Zen Teaching; First Series: By Charles Luk (Upasaka Lu Kuan Yu)

Immortal Sisters – Secrets of Taoist Women: Trans By Thomas Cleary

The First Buddhist Women Translations and Commentaries on the Therigatha: Susan Murcott

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Nonduality: The Nondual Mind of a Child

By Robert M. Dittler Ph.D ICBI

What is the nondual mind of a child? What is the attitude/perspective of a child in adult form?

Perhaps detached involvement best describes the mind of a child: Nondual.

Nondual – it has no shape and no size. It actually has no explanation and certainly no definition. The ancients define nondual as not this, not that. A metaphor comes in handy to explain nonduality. We can describe the mind of an infant as nondual. The infant just absorbs all that it senses without difference or distinction. The infant has no belief systems to filter its sensations. The infant has no self or ego to judge the rightness or wrongness of a sensation. The infant has no thought about this or that or anything else. The infant, some may say, has no mind. How often we say in response to something we determine as negative: "Pay it no mind. Just let it go."

How would we be without a mind? How would we get through a day without being attached to an ego? How could we envision a future? What is a nondual perspective?

First and foremost, we realize that there is a difference – a grave difference – between the way we hope things to be and the way we think things are. We have resolved our conflict with our perception of Ideal Reality – our hopes and dreams – with the way things actually are. We have also resolved our conflict with our perception of Real Reality – the way we think things are – with the way things actually are. We have recognized and let go of, yet we have, our beliefs: our hopes and dreams and our biases and prejudices. We perceive with clarity just the way things are, just as they are simply because they are what and how they are in the moment. How? We have realized that we essentially are not our thoughts, feelings or emotions. Our thoughts, feelings, and emotions are metaphorically just background noise in our field of experience. Likewise, we have realized that what we perceive: besides our thoughts, feelings and emotions, but also people, places, things and events are also just our own creation. As Gertrude Stein once echoed: there is no there (although she was probably referring to her house in Oakland). We accept unconditionally whatever is occurring now in the moment – just as it is, now.

We maintain an attitudinal stance that tends to be neither flexible nor inflexible, neither soft nor hard. We are inclined neither liberally or conservatively. At best, we may be described as fluid. We succeed because we take the shape of any container, yet retaining our integrity. We are much like water, in this regard. How do we maintain a fluid, rather than flexible or inflexible attitude? We have resolved our conditioned resistances. We appreciate the natural biases inherent in our belief systems through which we filter our perceptions of reality. We accept these conditioned resistance for what they are, our own creation. We let them go. We have become the centre of the cyclone, being Peace amid the chaos of ever present change in its myriad of forms. We are detached. We are Nonduality.

Being detached from our perceptions: thoughts, feelings and emotions, peoples, places, things, and events, we are absolutely responsible for our own integrity as we change our shape in the moment. We have resolved our basic human resistance to change. We have recognized our desire to keep things as they are even while recognizing that everything is changing moment by moment.

We do not create guilt or take pride in what we do or do not do. Leaves fall from a branch. Rain drops. Ivy grows. The Universe expands. Hence, we engender no feelings of blame for what others do or not do. We hold no residual emotional image of our own self or of others. We let go moment–by–moment. Hence, we tend not to experience the past emotionally. Our own self image is no longer that of edited memories.

Being detached from our perceptions, we do not perceive reality from emotional or I–based conditioning. We have resolved the great trinity of Me, Myself, and I. Hence, we have learned that our subjective feelings are nothing more and nothing less than conditioned reactions that we have learned and, hence, can unlearn them and let them go. We recognize them to be just what they are: products of our own imagination. As such, they are fantasy, existing only in our mind. We created them. We let them go.

Being detached from our perceptions, we are not bogged down by unnecessary pain and suffering: psychological, emotional, or otherwise. We are simply present. We engage thought when needed. We do not need to be constantly thinking, verbalizing, conceptualizing, or forming images. We, taking the shape of the moment, being fluid, maintain our own integrity. We are totally unconditioned and one with the universe, our immediate moment. In essence, we recognize when we are resisting our own resisting and let it go. Therefore, we experience no conflict. We can eschew a sense of calm composure, excitedly or more subdued, in the moment. Boredom, accordingly, is never an issue.

Being detached from our perceptions, we are not depressed being caught in our memories of the past. We are not anxious being caught in our imaginings about a future. Nor are we worried being caught in the illusive present wondering whether or not to be depressed or anxious. We have recognized the illusion of the alleged continuity of events. We let it go. The moment, accordingly, does not necessarily evoke an emotional impact. Again, we have integrated the sacred trinity (Me, Myself, I) of the Human Condition. We let the trinity go. Only we in our awareness remain. We are not the centre of the (narcissistic) Universe. We connect with others naturally, empathizing with others however they may be: liberal realist, liberal conservative, conservative idealist or conservative realist.

Being detached from our perceptions, we may become angry, yet our anger is not me–based. We do not take the moment personally or seriously. We recognize flattery and abuse as just as what they are and let them go. If angry, the anger is very short lived. We have no need to keep a residual mental image of the event. We just let it go. Our basic temperament remains just as it is, yet we respond rather than react to our thoughts, feelings, emotions, perceptions or people, places, things or events. Whether we respond or react in the moment, we do so by choice reflecting our absolutely objective grasp of the moment in the moment. We experience our emotions minimally and momentarily. We do not need to engage in the drama of the moment echoing the Human Condition. Likewise, we do not create romantic images of the past or even nostalgic feelings about the past. We know no benefit.

Being detached from our perceptions, being one, therefore, being in the moment and being the moment, we envision a future and empower others to bring that vision to Light. We adapt our style to meet the vision and the people around us. We recognize not only our own idiosyncrasies, personality, style and intellect, but also those of others just for what they are. We let our considerations about them go. We realize that the best instruction is often the most subtle. Being detached from our perceptions, we have the freedom to grow along with others as all grow in awareness given the subtly of instruction of Life. All acknowledge that mistakes happen, good things happen and in absolute reality, nothing happens. Light is.

Ref: The Science of Enlightenment, Nitin Trasi, M.D. New Delhi, India: D.K. Printworld (P) Ltd., 1999.Zen and The Brain: Toward an Understanding of Meditation and Consciousness, James H. Austin,M.D., Massachusetts, CT, USA: The MIT Press, 1999.

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A Personal Insight into the “Journey”

By Nick Bishop ICBI

It is pointless to portray the martial way as a heroic and mystical journey. In fact I feel that it would indeed be dishonest so what I will write is the personal perspective that I am going through whilst practicing daily in the wonderful Ch'an Martial Arts.

Contextualizing this situation I am neither starving, nor living under fear of my life, unlike many people throughout the world today, in the past and in the future.

Quite simply, I have a neurosis where I may become impatient and angry in any given general domestic or personal situation. However, I can generally put on a masquerade whilst in a public setting so as to hide the impatience and anger, except for - Where does this neurosis come from? I believe that the neurosis stems from when I was a six year old, having difficulties learning to read and having lucid dreams of watching two spirits coming through my bedroom door and checking my work. Over the coming years, I had a phobia of being "carried away by ghosts and buried alive". I would lie awake at night terrified I would be taken by these two entities. From personal tragedy in my late teens of losing my father, I embarked on a life living in London some hundred or so miles away from my family. May be a forced exile?

I have always been interested in martial arts, in fact, I cannot really tell you why. Having trained for some years in Chinese gong fu, I have now reached the pivotal point of starting the inner journey. What is the path? What is the direction? It is hard to say. It is now apparent that many times during my personal martial arts training the neurosis is coming through. Practicing in a darkened room hitting the string either with my eyes shut or not, can usually bring the neurosis out. When it comes, I am under immense mental pain and slightly under physical pain. In fact, having entered the internal gate recently I am "aware" some of the time of the neurosis, but when I am unaware I may become impatient and angry according to the particular situation.

Fundamentally, I am probably thinking that an unconscious part of me wishes to be a child. To transcend this mind state can only be through direct experience of being “present in the now”. I feel that writing words just ends in clichés and intellectualizing metaphors, so from now I will only write of the method’s that I employ to overcome the neurosis.

When I can, throughout the “waking day”, I practice the Hua Tou of "Who am I?”. Perhaps the Hua Tou may change over time. Before sleep, I practice “Who is seeing?”. This Hua Tou appears to make the dreams and visualization more real.

After reading Carl Jung, I seem to have dream sequences whilst practicing gong fu. For instance, I see in my mind's eye red and yellow cauldrons coming out of a bird bath, I saw a street of houses like a typical Middle Eastern street of ancient times. However, when these visualizations occur, I try to remain unattached.

From the Wikipedia on the Hua Tou "Always keep your Hua Tou in your mind. Never be parted from it. It will become the source of your resourcefulness". This is for me "Lighting the Path with flame touches".

The neurosis can manifest itself in a dream, for example, this is a recent dream. I was walking along a corridor with a man possibly my Dad, I came upon a large wooden door made of oak, and opened it, and came upon a rectangle room that was Spartan. To the left of the door, on the near side was an old two seater couch. Sat on the couch was a woman of black hair and middle aged. My Dad stood behind me, and the woman stood up. She came near; her face gave way to a terrifying black hole. I then woke up screaming with heavy breathing. I have had many dreams of a similar ilk from my twenties to the current time. Because of the lack of senses and physical awareness, the terror is more profound.

The neurosis can also manifest itself in close quarter sparring as there is no quarter to escape.

With focusing mind, I will endeavour to "look into the abyss" as depicted in the "Woman whose face became a black whirl pool" from whence the great terror came.

What then is the cause of terror? The initial thought is an entanglement of black vipers with red eyes spitting. The right hand is associated with the terror, in other words, the central point of the palm. I then become aware of the right hand wanting to grab me by the throat. But why is this? Still focusing on the image of the "whirl pool that is the black abyss”, trying to write down these images one writes that both the vipers and the black whirl pool is one and the same. Jumping into the whirl pool of red-eyed spitting vipers, I feel the shortness of breath. This feeling then permeates the physical body with heavy breathing and then screaming. The right hand is now near my face, I am confused why they are doing this to me? This cryptic apocalypse is disguising the primordial state of the child who wants to be loved by his parents, and fails to love them in return. Yet still, the intellectual mind stands before true direct experience.

Awareness of both the conscious and unconscious mind is the key that comes through the Hua Tou, martial arts training and studying the images and visualizations that come from the unconscious mind.

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The Etymology of the Chinese Character ‘釋’ (Shi4)

By Adrian Chan-Wyles ICBI

The term ‘Shi’ is used within Chinese Buddhism and has four general uses:

1) It is used to refer to an ordained monk or nun.

2) It is a rare surname found in a village in Shandong.

3) It can be applied to a lay person who has realised emptiness (i.e. ‘enlightenment’).

4) It can used to refer to Buddhism (and Buddhists) in a general sense.

Although ‘Shi’ can be assumed to apply only to ordained members of the Sangha, it is important to understand that the Mahayana Vinaya defines a member of the ‘ordained’, or ‘Maha-Sangha’ as:

a) A man or woman who has passed through the ritual of head shaving and vow taking – effectively leaving the ordinary world.

b) Any person who has realised ‘emptiness’.

It is through the realisation of emptiness that lay-people can be considered enlightened and referred to honorifically as ‘Shi’. Even the Pali Vinaya preserved within the Theravada tradition allows for a lay-person to be able to realise ‘emptiness’. This is in accordance with the many stories concerning ordinary lay men and women realising enlightenment during the Buddha’s lifetime. It must be stressed that when a lay-person goes for refuge and agrees to follow vows – he or she is not usually enlightened. It is often only after decades of training that such enlightenment is achieved. This is why a lay person is not generally referred to as ‘Shi’ when going for refuge. However, as soon as a monk or nun becomes a novice, and despite the fact that they may not be enlightened, they are immediately referred to as ‘Shi’. This distinction has often led to the false conclusion that lay-people can not achieve enlightenment, and can not be called ‘Shi’. A lay Buddhist in China is one who has taken the Triple Refuge, and accepted the lay vows – such a Buddhist is considered a ‘secular disciple’ (俗家弟子 - Su Jia Di Zi) and to distinguish this spiritual path from Daoist or Confucian lineages, the term ‘Shi’ may be applied in a broad sense denoting a ‘Buddhist’, or one belonging to the Buddha’s family. This last example refers to Buddhism as a religious category and says nothing about the spiritual state of the aspirant. The term ‘Shi’, however, has not always been used to refer to Buddhist monastics and only dates from the 4th century CE. Prior to this date monks and nuns were referred to by their master’s name. If it is accepted that Buddhism arrived in China between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, then it must be assumed that between 300 - 500 years this term was unknown and not used in China. This fact did not prevent Buddhism from spreading from India and gaining roots in China. The practice of students in China taking on their master’s last names allowed for very strong lineages to develop, even if the plethora of names themselves were not standardised and often led to confusion within Buddhist communities.

During the Wei – Jin Period (265-420CE) Dharma master Dao An (道安法师 – Dao An Fa Shi) lived at the Five Storey Temple (五重寺 – Wu Chong Si), situated in Chang’an. The number of monks that followed him numbered around a thousand, and more arrived everyday. At this time there was confusion with regard to the monk’s surnames. Monks were known by their master’s last name, but there was no consistency in this practice. The name could be representative of a geographical location, a spiritual attribute, or a personal characteristic, etc. It was also common for masters and their students to become confused with one another. Master Dao An believed that this situation did not show the appropriate level of respect for Sakyamuni Buddha, and he proposed a radical change in established tradition. Instead of using the many different names of ordaining masters to distinguish students, who shaved their heads, from now on all Buddhist monks and nuns in China were to share just one surname - ’釋’ (shi4) – an abbreviation of ‘Sakyamuni’ and meaning ‘son or daughter of the Buddha Sakyamuni.’ This radical reform of master Dao An is still followed in China today. Initially, master Dao An had the idea that all monks should take the surname of Sakyamuni Buddha (释迦 – Shi Jia), but had no scriptural basis for this idea. Later, he obtained a copy of the ‘Increasing by One Agama’ (增一阿含经 – Zeng Yi A Han Jing), a collection of sutras (corresponding to the Pali Anguttara-nikaya) which was highly treasured at the time. In the ‘Correct Results Sutra’ (Guo Ran Jing) his idea was confirmed when he read the following Dharma words: ‘The four groups of spiritual practitioners should all be named after the Buddha (i.e. ‘釋’ shi4).’ The four groups represent the four castes (varna) of ancient India which are 1) Ksatriya – warriors and kings. 2) Brahmin priests. 3) Vaisya – farmers and merchants. 4) Sudra – servants of the other three castes.

Although ‘釋’ (shi4) is usually used to refer to an ordained Buddhist monk or nun, it is also used as a surname in North China. This name is not common and appears to be limited to the Binzhou City area of Zouping County, Shandong Province. In this area there is a village where the majority of the inhabitants are surnamed ’釋’ (shi4). However, as it is a name that has become exclusively associated with Buddhist monastics (who have renounced the world) it is not

included in the book of Chinese surnames entitled One Hundred Family Names (百家姓 – Bai Jia Xing).

The Chinese encyclopaedia states:

‘Shi (釋) is a term generally used to refer to a male or female monastic that follows the teachings of Sakyamuni Buddha. Shi (釋) is the Chinese word chosen to represent in translation the Sanskrit word ‘Sakya’ which is the family name of the Lord Buddha. Since the time of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (316-420) the term ‘Shi’ has been used to denote a Buddhist monk (or nun), and to distinguish the followers of Sakyamuni Buddha from other – non-Buddhist – spiritual practitioners. It can also be used as ‘Shi e’ (释厄) – to describe a ‘suffering Buddhist monk’ (the hardship experienced by the Tang monk Xuanzang exemplifies this meaning), or as ‘Shi Lao’ (释老) to describe both the Buddha and Laozi. Another variant is ‘Shi Dao’ (释道), a term used to refer exclusively to the teachings of Daoism.’

Shi (釋) is an abbreviation which refers to the clan name of the Buddha as used after his attainment of enlightenment – Sakyamuni – and carries specific meaning in the Chinese language. Collectively these meanings serve to explain ‘Sakyamuni’ and to create a distinctly Chinese interpretation of this ancient Indian name. To understand these meanings, the Chinese ideogram ‘釋’ (shi4) must be examined in detail. The Chinese dictionary states the following meanings for ‘釋’ (shi4):

1) Explain

2) Release

3) Interpret

4) Set Free

5) Dispel

6) Relieve

The ideogram ‘釋’ (Shi4) is comprised of the left-hand signific particle ‘釆’ (bian4), and the (signific and phonetic) right-hand particle ‘睪’ (yi4). The meanings associated with ‘釆’ (bian4) are:

1) Distinguish

2) Sort

釆 (bian4) originally represented an animal with claws digging in the dirt to find food, but eventually evolved to represent the process of sorting rocks from rice. Through this process of examination and elimination, impurities are removed and only pure rice is left.

The particle ‘睪’ (yi4) originally depicted a trap or snare designed to catch things, and carries the meaning of:

1) To Spy On

Together these particles form the ideogram Shi4 (釋) and give the meaning of possessing the ability to bring order to the (inner and outer) world through concentrating vision, and correctly distinguishing one thing from another. The analogy associated with the combined particles for ‘Shi4’ is that of catching things within a trap, and then releasing and sorting those objects – one from the other. Shi4 represents the meaning of unlocking a trap or snare through the use of observation and insight. It is interesting to note that the Sanskrit name ‘Sakyamuni’ is written as ‘釋迦牟尼’ (Shi Jia Mou Ni) in the Chinese language, with ‘Shi Jia’ (釋迦) standing for ‘Sakya’.

Shi Jia (釋迦) can be read to mean ‘a path of increasing development that is represented through the power of speech’. This equates with the original meaning of the Sanskrit name ‘Sakya’, as explained by the Buddha to Ambattha in the Digha Nikaya, which refers to those people expelled from the realm of king Okkaka who took-up residence on the slopes of the Himalayas. When king Okkaka heard that these people had successfully re-established themselves in a remote area (without sullying their caste), he declared from now on they should be known as ‘able’ (Sakya). Sakya can also refer to those who dwell next to sal-trees (shorea robusta), or within a forest of sal-trees. The term ‘Mou Ni’ (牟尼) represents the Sanskrit ‘muni’ which is used to refer to a ‘sage’ or ‘spiritual seer’. Mou Ni (牟尼) can be interpreted as referring to a ‘person who spiritually seeks’, with ‘尼’ (ni2) usually used to denote a Buddhist nun.

The term ‘Shi’ implies the psychological, emotional, and physical focus of a practitioner, toward the personage, teachings and community of the Lord Buddha. This represents a dramatic re-alignment of the aspirant’s mind and body away from a life of exclusive sensory gratification (and associated inner turmoil), toward that of the pristine nature of the Buddha’s teaching as exemplified through his personal experience of enlightenment. The ordained aspirant focuses the entirety of his or her efforts toward this goal and in so doing ‘venerates’ the Buddha, his teachings, and the community that follows (and upholds) those teachings. This is the primary meaning of ‘shi’ within Chinese Buddhism. Shi denotes a dedicated practitioner who attains ‘release’ through the use of correct effort and insight, and whose behaviour is modified and directed through the use of vows which have been ritualistically administered. The solemn taking of vows is an important part of the meaning of ‘Shi’ and requires the shaving of the head, and the leaving behind of the ordinary world of sensory delusion. This world of sensory delusion is the ‘trap’ that ‘shi’ symbolically represents, whilst at the same time advocating escaping from this trap through the correct ordering of things.

Shi is often translated into English as ‘Venerable’ and refers primarily to the attitude and behaviour the practitioner has toward the Buddha. It is not a term designed to raise monastics above laity, or monks above nuns – although it is sometimes mistakenly used in this manner. Buddhist monks and nuns are by definition ‘beggars’ and therefore theoretically occupy the lowest social rank – this is true despite the fact that within this impoverished existence, monks and nuns are usually very well educated. The point of the monastic existence is humility. Once ‘humility’ is established, and the Buddha and his teachings venerated, then the practitioner enters a stage of existence that others can use as an example – it is this very carefully defined state that may qualify the practitioner to be referred to as ‘venerable’ in his or her own right – but even this rarefied state is secondary to producing a correct practice based upon the veneration of the Buddha. The behaviour of monks and nuns is strictly regulated because even novices can take the title ‘Shi’. Monks and nuns can be called ‘Shi’ without any prior spiritual achievement, whereas lay-people can only be referred to as ‘Shi’ after they have realised complete and full enlightenment, testified by an acknowledged master. The reality of lay enlightenment is emphasised by the 6th Patriarch Hui Neng, who advocates – in his Altar Sutra – the attainment of full enlightenment whilst living at home.

‘The Patriarch said: ‘Learned friends, if you wish to cultivate yourselves in the right practice, you can do so while staying at home and need not enter a monastery. If you can do so at home, you are like a man of the east whose mind is good. If you enter a monastery and do not practice it, you are like a man of the west whose mind is wicked. If your mind is pure and clean, it is the Western Paradise of your own nature.’

The reality of the attainment of enlightenment as taught within the Ch’an Buddhism School cuts-through all duality and does not discriminate between one state of being and another. Therefore, in can be correctly stated that both the ‘lay’ and ‘monastic’ methods of practice are of an equally delusive nature, as long as the ordinary mind discriminates between the two – preferring one state over the other – and that in reality it is the empty Mind Ground that is the essence of both. The use of the term ‘shi’, if it is to b